Inexplicable!

Why would you leave a perfectly adequate specialist left back on the bench and then play a centre half who has only just joined? I have been a firm admirer of what Rodgers has done since he came, but today's line up cost us the points and was like a Benitez decision! The team looked unbalanced until Enrique came on and that was too late.

It smacks of 'sakho cost 18 mil so I have to play him to justify the outlay to the owners' - and that's a pile of horse dung!

Yes I know we missed Coutinho but playing a totally new back line was unnecessary. I would rather have 3 points today than beat United on Wed! 4th place is more important than trinkets this season!

I think there maybe a little of an over reaction, although maybe understandable as our great start really got expectation up. However I think we need to think this one through a bit.

First off if we're to take BR as this word, Enrique was carrying an injury which made him a risk to start. Yes I understand if a player is good enough to be on the bench he should be good enough to start, but for me even when he came on he really did not show he would have done any better if he'd been on from the start. He gave away plenty of passes (just like the rest of the side) and just seemed a little off to me.

For me it really did come down, not to a lack of full backs, but a lack of link up from the back to the front. Credit to Southampton who pressed high up and limited the ability to play out of the back, but it was a pass to a creative midfielder to start the attack that was missing, not an outlet pass to a full back. So for me missing PC was a very big deal, but we still should have done better.

For me Gerrard needs to own up he had a poor day, as there should be no reason why he cannot play that creative role. Maybe he's not got the legs of his youth, but he's still got more technical ability than anyone else on the pitch. I do however agree Aspas was a passenger. Impressed early doors, but the last two matches have been aweful and he needs a spell in the reserves to buck his ideas up. He's a good player, was a hero at his club in Spain, but needs to get things together, otherwise step aside for someone else. I expect Suarez to play in the hole on Wednesday, but I'd also think about Allen as an option if Aspas does not buck up.

Dave,
While I might tend to agree with you that Enrique was god awful when he came on, he really seemed fine in the warmups, at least from what I could see (albeit not on the field, but a good view) AND, if he was going to play a CB with a left foot over there, why not Agger, who can move with the ball? And also, Agger was grabbing his rib cage constantly until he came off, so what was the point in starting him if he was only 65% fit? Skrtel and Toure could have been a fine duo, with Sakho left, and Kelly who was on the bench and played 90" minutes in the midweek ...

In a situation like this, where (I can't speak for Loki) I'm not blowing anything out of proportion, I'm simply calling a spade, a spade, as I saw it. It was exactly what it was. We could not get anything going wide, which is a shame because Moses was electric on the ball when he did get it, and the higher Soton pressed Sakho, the less Moses could see the ball, and while Aspas didn't have a good game, #10 isn't his position, and early on, he made 1-2 cleverl plays, one almost led to a goal, with him breaking down the right and cutting to his strong left foot. Instead mostly Jordan played wide, and Aspas was invisible after the they cut us off ..

Agger shouldn't have started, and IMO, Alberto should have. These for me, are not in hindsight, but what I wanted/would have done. Alberto to some seems lightweight and one for the future, but so many said the same about Coutinho, and while I'm not saying their the same player, he has the ilk of class, and it didn't do much good giving him 12-13" minutes to show it, when they were chickens running around with no heads. And, just like Coutinho who was also "too frail and lightweight", he could have really changed things as the link up / #10 player.. Sterling was also a pretty good shout, since Kolo can't and never would get forward.

We put out a lineup that gave too much respect to Southampton at Anfield, and they ate it up tactically, and physically

Well, I'd like to thank Rafa.. em, I mean Brendan for ruining my first "league" visit to Anfield, where the atmosphere was incredible, and then incredibly deflated after about 15" mins of that nonsense. 4 CBs to start the match was trouble and it was plain to see. I can rationalize why he might have done it, thinking Southampton would play 3 big Strikers up front, however, rule of thumb, at least as I see it is, you play "your game" in your "home". Brendan totally outthought himself, and a change should have happened no later than 25"..

Agger was constantly grabbing his ribs, so he was clearly not fit, evident in getting pulled off in favor of Enrique, because Sakho wasn't comfortable in the final third, and Kolo while filling a need, couldn't get forward past a tree, so starting with Henderson wide, rather than Aspas, who can take a man on wide, completely nullified us, and we couldn't even get out of our half, which was maddening..

After finally making Jordan the right back, which should have happened far earlier, then he takes of Skrtel, who had a fine match, and can get forward / act as a CF in favor of keeping on Kolo and Sakho.. It was baffling, and it all starts with Buck because he chose it and employed it, and it played into Soton's hands like a piece of cake, while Mignolet looked like bambi on ice skates passing/dribbling all over the place.

Alberto, at the minimum, should have gotten 45", if not starting, because he's as close as we've got as a like for like with Coutinho, so giving him 13" to help unlock a parked bus while the others ran around mindless, was even worse, because he showed the dummys, the through balls, the backflicks, but there was 0.0 cohesion. Technically speaking, the whole team was awful aside from Moses, Lucas and Skrtel... the rest should have just stayed home for the day.. This needs sorted by Sunderland, let alone the cup at OT..